Rubens - A Genius at Work (KMSKB,Brussels, 23-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

Indeed a great painter even though I'm not a great fan off all his works. I usually love parts of the painting and totally dislike other parts. But the they create the effect that Rubens and his age were looking for in paintings and especially in altar pieces. His works definitely work!
And some details in clothes, faces and bodies are indeed sublime (see picture)

If you want to learn some more about Rubens studio (of course he didn't make all his paintings alone!) and it's paintings you should check out this or any other Rubens exhibit. This exhibit ends tomorrow so you'd better be fast ;-)

See the site: here

Alechinsky from A to Y (KMSKB, Brussels, 23-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

A homage to this 80 year old Belgian artist (ok he lives in France nowadays).
He was an active member of the CoBrA-group but his works are so much better and more interesting than those of his "colleagues"!

I especially love his comic-like style paintings. You can see all kinds of weird stories there.
You should definitely see his works live because they are much more vibrant "in the flesh" than on print.

The exhibit site:here
Exhibit un till 30-3-2008.

Passage-Contour (Mechelen, 20-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

European forum for young artists => showing video-art, installations & performances in Mechelen and Brussels from several young European artists.

Locations:C-jour, Old Hospital (great locations!)

Check the site:
http://contourmechelen.be/passage/

Red Zebra & The Kids (Het Depot, Leuven, 19-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

A night of classic Belgian New Wave (Red Zebra) and Punk (The Kids). Two great performances!

Check these legendary Belgian bands at:
http://www.redzebra.be/
http://www.thekidspunk.eu/

PUNK'S NOT DEAD! It just got older ;-p

Young Gallery (Brussels, 12-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

A gallery for the art of photography. The location is quite cool too: Avenue Louise, Wiltcher's Place - Conrad Hotel (extremely expensive looking hotel). Worth a look!

Site: http://www.younggalleryphoto.com/exhibitions.html
The picture here is a work by Katya Legendre (current exhibit,un till feb.16th).

Supermarket in Europe (Brussels, 12-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

A Europalia Europa exhibit.

A great nostalgic exhibit about the (first) supermarkets in Belgium (and Europe). If you like the 1950's,you will love this exhibit!
Cool old-fashioned products, adverts and pictures in a weird building at the Flagey-square (behind the Fortis).
Very interesting for people who study architecture, design or modern society!

Check the site: http://www.supermarketexpo.be/

All roads lead to Rome (Brussel/Elsene, 12-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

This is a Europalia Europa exhibit.

A fun exhibit about artist's travels to Rome / Italy in the 16th - 19th centuries. Some nice paintings, great objects like watches and a lot of interesting texts written by the artist-travellers.
Exhibit un till 27-1-2008.

The museum of Elsene/Ixelles also has a great permanent collection on display.
The picture is François-René de Chateaubriand as painted by A.L.Girodet de Roussy-Trioson.

Paul McCarthy: Head Shop - Shop Head (SMAK, Gent, 6-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Mmmm, what can I say about the works of McCarthy? Two words immediately spring to mind: Rancid Chaos.

Everything about his works is rancid, sordid, filthy and unsavoury. But it's also very funny, absurd and very critical of our modern society.
McCarthy is a modern consumer who has gone awry. He doesn't remember what the rules are and uses ketchup on himself instead of his hamburger. All limits are gone!

This is definitely no exhibit for people who want to see beautiful things or have weak stomachs... But it's a definite must see for every-one who doesn't always appreciate our modern society of glamorous adverts, Disney Worlds and Hollywood movies.

Visit the site of the SMAK. This exhibit un till 17-2-2008. The work in the picture is called "Garden"; it was the first McCarthy work I saw and is also included in this exhibit.

British Vision (MSK, Gent, 6-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950.

Well, today is the last day of this exhibit but I can still tell you what great British artists from this period you should check out.
I love British art and you could see the best in this exhibit. It was a bit crowded but we had enough chances to see everything.
So which British artists,included in this exhibit, should you know and see?

- Landscape: Constable, Turner, Gainsborough
- Satire: Hogarth, Beardsley (also for his designs)
- Science: Joseph Wright of Derby (I think we all saw his work in books on physics)
- Pre-Raphaelites: Rossetti, Ford Maddox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones
- Drawings & Visions: William Blake, Fuseli
- Books: original drawings of "Alice in Wonderland"
- Modern Stuff: Bacon, Lucian Freud, Hockney
- Sculpture: Henry Moore, Jacob Epstein

You can still see a lot of their art on the sites of the museum:

The museum

The exhibit

The picture here is "Beata Beatrix" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Desire (Lamot, Mechelen, 2-1-2008)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

In the beginning there was unity. Male and female used to be one un till the Gods / God separated us into man and woman. Now we are opposed like good and evil, life and death. But we still search for this unity; we still desire to be one...
This story which is so visible in our Christian-Western culture is the underlying theme of the exhibit "Desire".

But what can you see?? Well actually it's mostly an exhibit of 17th century alabaster devotional carvings made in Mechelen.They are all exquisite so well worth a visit!
These devotional pieces are accompanied by a few modern texts, images, music and movies about the female-male opposite and unity. Sadly this part isn't very convincing but it's nice to see "Jesus,the musical" again for instance.

Check the site: http://www.desire-expo.be/
If you haven't seen "Jesus,the musical" yet you can see it here ;-)
You can visit this exhibit un till 9-3-2008.

Toy Museum (Mechelen, 23-12-2007)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Yes I had not yet visited this museum even though it's really close to home and I love toys. But the right moment for a visit had come so we finally went there ;-)

This is a really nice museum if you like old dolls and toys. And you can actually learn something about the history of them too.
The scenes they have created with the dolls, the stuffed animals, trains, etc. are really fun to watch.
I really loved the part with carnival and circus toys, especially the funny mirrors (I had never seen myself as a dwarf yet!).

If you have time some day and are into toys this is a great museum to visit. There are usually temporary exhibits as well about specific toys.
They also have a shop where you can buy some toys and you can play games at the museum as well. It's a pity they don't have any picture cards of their collection for sale.

The site here

Jerwood:Free and Framed (Momu, Antwerp, 16-12-2007)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

If you want to see some really really large pictures you should check out this free exhibit in the hall of the fashion museum.

You should go to this museum anyway to see the Bernhard Wilhelm exhibit if you haven't done so already (see the review, it's a terrific exhibit!).
You can still see it un till 27th of January.

You can see the free exhibit un till February the 3rd.
The site: http://www.momu.be/en/index_momu.jsp

Female Portraits (Mayer-Van Den Bergh, Antwerp, 16-12-2007)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

If you are in Antwerp you should visit the Mayer-Van Den Bergh museum anyway so now is a great time to do just that! Residents of Antwerp can visit this museum for free!

The museum is very nice itself but we were there for the exhibit. It's a small exhibit of the drawings of Eugeen Van Mieghem who has made some terrificly beautiful and moving drawings of his wife. Especially the drawings made when she was ill and dying...
I don't know much about he artist but he has his own museum somewhere in Antwerp.You can read about him on their site here.

The Mayer-Van Den Bergh site: museum

If I Can't Dance... (Muhka, Antwerp, 16-12-2007)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution!

This is a quote from Emma Goldman and also the title of one of the current exhibits in the museum of modern art in Antwerp. It's supposed to be about feminism in art but that's not something that's really visible in the pieces.

There's a lot of revolution going on though in the works currently shown in the Muhka, especially in the presentation of their own collection. And you are of course allowed to dance if you want to ;-)
It's always inspiring to visit this museum because there are always interesting recent artworks to be seen.
And if you are here you should try the sandwiches in the museum cafe because they are delicious!

You can see the current exhibits un till January the 6th. The site: Muhka